1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and in particular to manufacturing tools and automation. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to rail mounted tools used for manufacturing.
2. Background
Manufacturing aircraft may involve aligning different components on structures and/or other components. Holes may be drilled through these aligned parts to prepare for attaching the parts to each other. The parts may be attached using fasteners such as, for example, without limitation, rivets, screws, bolts, and other suitable fasteners. The creation of these holes may be performed manually or through machine tools.
These machine tools may comprise a robotic apparatus that may move with respect to the aligned parts and drill the desired holes. These types of tools often may require substantial floor space and large investment costs, and may have limits on efficiency because these types of tools may only drill one hole at a time. Further, the amount and/or types of work that may be performed using these types of tools may be reduced based on required safety zones.
Other types of machine tools include smaller flexible tools, such as, for example, without limitation, tools on flexible rails. These types of tools may include rails attached to the parts. For example, with the fuselage, a rail system may be attached to the fuselage with a drilling tool moving along the rail to drill the desired holes. These types of flexible rail systems may provide lower equipment and implementation costs. Further, these types of systems also may provide for quicker setup time and the capability to drill holes with many types of surface contours.
Currently available rail systems may take the form of a dual rail system. With the dual rail system, attaching and maintaining the rails using a parallel configuration with desired offset dimensions between the rails may be difficult depending on the curvature of the surface of the object on which drilling operations may be performed.
Further, after a drilling operation has been performed, a sealant and/or fasteners may be applied to the holes used to fasten components to each other. This type of operation may require removing the rails and the unit and placing a new set of rails and unit onto the fuselage. In some systems, the old unit may be moved off the rail and a new unit with the appropriate tool may be coupled to the rail. This type of process may be time consuming, as well as more costly by duplicating rail systems and/or units for different operations.
Accordingly, a need is present for a method and apparatus for minimizing the limitations discussed above.